Finding Focus and Trusting Myself. What's the next step?

[Kooka]

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking on the forums for about a year now and always go to introduce myself and ask for guidance, but I always stop myself, as I tend to feel like I can figure things out on my own and 'already know what needs to be done', I'm just not doing it. But things have shifted in my life recently and I figured it's about time I just post something and see where it goes.

So, what's my deal?

I'm 33(M) and living on the Gold Coast in Australia, so already I don't have much to complain about in life haha.

I quit my full-time job about two months ago and am now full-time working for myself.
I build WordPress websites for SMB clients, all of my work has been through referrals so far. When I left my full-time job, I was still able to do part-time work for that business for a while, which essentially just became a handover to my replacement. This worked well as I had a few weeks where I still had consistent income while shifting to working for myself full-time.

Now all of my income is from my business and the projects that are referred to me, with only one client currently paying ~$140/month recurring. Definitely want to increase the recurring income. The largest project I've landed was for ~$19k and I'm halfway through that now.

My relationship with my fiance has recently ended (ex-fiance now I guess haha), which means my rent/bills have essentially doubled and I don't really have savings, so I'm now in a position where I need to have regular income(even more than before). I am currently looking for part-time jobs and I have projects in the pipeline that I'm currently working on, so as long as I get the work done and the clients don't delay, I'm covered for the next 1-2 months even if I can't get part-time work, but not having money just magically turn up in my bank account every fortnight is definitely adding some pressure. I did not appreciate the security of a full-time job when I had one haha.

Here's where I list all of my excuses/self-doubts:
- I find it hard to develop a unique position to be able to sell my services to new clients, luckily the referrals always speak highly of me, which makes those sales much easier.
- I know I build high-quality websites and I have a designer I contract for higher-quality projects, however, I still feel like an imposter and that I'm not an expert in any field.
- In relation to the previous points, I tend to find it difficult to see the value in the services I'm offering to clients, beyond building a website, therefore I can lose drive in the work I'm doing and again, find it hard to sell the service.
- I overthink and start looking for future problems, rather than just taking action and figuring it out as I go. For example, I need more income, but part of me doesn't want to take on too much work in case I can't deliver on it. (ridiculous to worry about 'too much work' when I don't have enough as it is haha)


Skills/Reasons I'm Good at what I do
- I have a bachelors degree in Computer Based Design (Just a piece of paper really, but it sounds fancy)
- I worked as a Junior Web Developer and have been in the Web Development space since 2015
- I've worked as a Team Leader in telecommunications, worked as a Clinic Manager, worked with businesses to integrate IT systems, manage their Google Workspace, MS365, and worked with a business to help them expand from small WFH business to a brick and mortar location with ~15 employees.
- I've delivered several websites for business, from Lawyers, Financial Planners, Pipe Manufacturers and more.
- I actually care about helping people that I work with (if they're not shitty people)



I'm quite prone to 'analysis paralysis', trying to figure everything out before I take action. Not wanting to put effort into something that will turn out to be the wrong choice and a waste of time. I understand the irony in the fact I'm wasting more time trying to figure it out or ignore the problems with Netflix, than by just doing something, but it's still a thing that's happening.

As I'm sure with most people here, I want to be wealthy so I have the freedom to live the life I want.

Reasons I hold back from going all in on my business
- I'm trying to maintain some form of work/life balance (although I'm now single and don't do much else, so should probably just work 24/7)
- I don't know if this is the vehicle to wealth and therefore hold back from going all in, not wanting to waste time on something that isn't the final thing
- I don't know what to prioritise and focus
- I get imposter syndrome and feel like I'm not skilled enough to offer service to higher paying clients/larger businesses
- I don't have clear SOP's for my business and therefore every project feels like I'm figuring out the process again each time.

Here's the thing, I'm good at building WordPress websites for clients, I'm comfortable in that space, but I don't really see that as being a service to make me wealthy.
I feel like I need to offer SEO and Marketing services to one: increase recurring revenue, two: provide a service that has tangible results.



This is where I'm at currently and feeling stuck in terms of my focus/priority

1. Do I just focus on the projects I currently have and deliver great websites (bare minimum)
2. Learn SEO and start offering that as a service
3. Start doing marketing/cold outreach to get prospects in the pipeline
4. Start learning paid ads to offer this as a service
5. Wild Card: Start teaching myself app development again to be able to offer this as a service in the future
6. All of the above and just don't sleep.

Basically, I wake up each morning and don't know what I need to prioritise to ensure I can keep paying rent and grow my business.
I would love to be able to build an Agency that has multiple employees and is known as a premier Agency for Medium & Enterprise business, but I feel like I don't have the knowledge or experience to get there right now and I tend to doubt my work ethic and ability to 'figure it out' and deliver on those bigger clients. Not that I haven't delivered for a client yet, but I always feel like I could have done more or that I haven't given 100%.

When I lose focus and don't know what to prioritise, I feel overwhelmed and instead of taking action on something, anything, I tend to pull back and delay action, which I am starting to shift, but god damn the self-doubt gets loud sometimes.

Sorry if this thread is a bit all over the place, but this is what's going on in my mind a lot of the time and I think even just typing this out has helped haha.

I would love to get any advice/guidance/support from those who have been in this position or can offer some direction based on their experience.

*Yes I've joined @Fox's Legend Program and have read his thread(s) on here
*No I haven't read the books yet, I have started the audiobooks.

 

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[Alexandrel]

Hey Kooka,

Brisbane resident here.

Sounds like you want to jump all the steps at once.
I usually write down all I have to do on a piece of paper. It clears my mind, makes it a bit clearer what needs to be done, I don't have to worry about forgetting stuff, and I get the satisfaction of crossing lines when the work is done.

All of your clients are from referrals, that's great news. They probably were happy with your work, even if you think you could have done better.
If you need the money, it's probably a good idea to find more work and trust you'll be able to deliver.

Good luck !

 

[Kooka]

Hey Kooka,

Brisbane resident here.

Sounds like you want to jump all the steps at once.
I usually write down all I have to do on a piece of paper. It clears my mind, makes it a bit clearer what needs to be done, I don't have to worry about forgetting stuff, and I get the satisfaction of crossing lines when the work is done.

All of your clients are from referrals, that's great news. They probably were happy with your work, even if you think you could have done better.
If you need the money, it's probably a good idea to find more work and trust you'll be able to deliver.

Good luck !

Hey great to know there's other Queenslanders in here! Yeah finding more work is definitely a key part of it. I also want to make sure I'm continuing to improve my skill and quality of the work with each new client as well.